Hi Father,
May I take this question a step further?
You answered that "The geographical land of Israel takes its name from the people to whom it was promised in the OT by God". We had a geographical land of Isreal that was established for the Jewish people after WWII, but was there ever an actual geographical land called Isreal during Old Testament times? Or is the counry of Isreal we have today the only geographical land of Isreal there ever was?
Thank you.

Answer by Fr. John Echert on 11/21/2012:

Yes. The boundaries may not be identical but the location is. The Romans renamed the
ancient land of Israel as Palestine as an insult to the Jews, using the name of their
enemies, the Philistines. If u were to visit Isael you would see much evidence of the Old
and New Testament periods.